Circle Urban 10-25

All names have been changed for privacy purposes.

On October 25, 2013 a group of peers and myself visited Circle Urban in the Austin Area of Chicago. We arrived there at 2:00 PM and I was a ball of nerves. Middle schoolers intimidate me. I went in really worried that they wouldn't like me. How often are middle schoolers excited to spend time with a teacher/aid.

Things were a bit tense at first. None of us really knew what to do. Shawna, the woman in charge, did well to help us get comfortable. We went around and introduced ourselves and then began working on some homework together. My friend Shelly and I sat with two of the kids, Tony and Keisha. They were so much fun. They were funny and really personable. Soon enough, I felt completely comfortable with them. Keisha showed a few of the high schools she was hoping to get into and told be she wanted to be a beautician. We were laughing and talking about our futures and about school. We just really hit it off.

Around 3 o'clock, we split into teams and played captured the flag. Shawna hid a St. Xavier flag somewhere on the campus and through a series of seven clues we would be lead to the flag. So Tony, Keisha, Shelly, and I worked and laughed hard searching for the clues. The building was huge! We journeyed through the entire campus and had to retrace our steps multiple times. We looked everywhere!

The sixth clue led us to a balcony on the outside of the building. There we found a seventh clue that told us to go back to the sixth clue! We ran back and forth between the two clues so many times until Tony finally stumbled upon the flag. On the balcony, the flag was rolled up and hidden on a window sill right off the balcony. I was so proud. I honestly didn't think we would win but we did! The kids were so happy and I made sure they knew how proud I really was.

I was definitely wrong about them. They weren't hard to get along with at all. They were excited to see us and excited to get to know them. My opinion of middle schoolers has definitely changed due to those fantastic kids. It's disappointing to know that I won't get to go a second time. I wish I could spend some more time with the kids. It was such a great experience and I really loved it.